


Free Fall

by Amabsis



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, I'm so tired, behold the fruits of my labor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 13:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30072960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amabsis/pseuds/Amabsis
Summary: I know this isn't what I normally do but I'm kinda getting graded on this tomorrow, so I figured might as well kill 2 birds with one stone and get some feedback before I submit it. Hope you still like it!
Relationships: Kyrie & Dani





	Free Fall

Finals week was coming up, and Kyrie Griffiths was frantically reviewing her notes in her room. She had attended Glider Middle School for three years and had been at the top of her class since the day she walked into the building. During her time there she had been notorious for winning awards for the school, but hadn’t taken the time to build relationships with her classmates. Not that she seemed to mind though. As long as she was doing well academically, nothing could hold her down.

Except for her wings, of course. Humans had evolved to grow wings as they grew older, so by the time they were running, they had also gained the basic ability to fly. However, the same couldn’t be said for Kyrie. She had beautiful pastel purple wings and loved flying as a kid. However, when she left for her first day of school, Shasha, one of the strongest flyers of her class, had gotten a couple of her classmates to make fun of her wind color, since the common colors were yellow or white. Everyday she had gone to school only to be called out for her wing color. She eventually stopped flying and started to hide her wings under her shirt.

Finding it hard to make friends, Kyrie put the time that she used to spend flying into becoming one of the top students in her class. Unfortunately, when you don’t practice a skill for a while, you begin to forget how to do it, but many years later, even when the bullying had died down, Kyrie still kept her wings hidden and her feet on the ground. By the time she was 10, she was still the only kid in her school who wouldn’t fly and still walked to class. 

Kyrie was now 12 and had started to re-teach herself the basics of flying, but only managed to get herself to hover a few feet off the ground. Flying also took a lot out of her, and she could only hover for so long before her wings would start hurting and give out. Training didn’t seem to be working for her, so she eventually just stopped trying. After putting away all of her study material, she walked into school the next morning ready to take on whatever her teachers decided to throw at her.

She went through her the first half of the school day like she normally would, with only one interaction with her “bully,” Shasha. She was one of the few students who still teased her, even years later, about not being able to fly, despite being the one to discourage her from showing her wings in the first place. Most of the other students who sided with Shasha had moved, or just grown out of bullying others. Kyrie was able to ignore the athlete's taunts, but sometimes they made her think. What was she missing out on by staying on the ground? Would she ever be able to touch the clouds again? She pondered these questions as she sat down to read a book after having finished her lunch.

“Hi! Do you mind if I sit here?” Dani asked, standing patiently in front of Kyrie’s desk and snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked up from her book and gave a small nod before returning to her place in her book. Dani smiled and took a seat next to her. Kyrie knew that Dani had been selected as the class president and seemed to be an overall nice person, but that was about all. The two girls sat in silence for a bit before Dani spoke up again.

“So, are you excited for our Wing Spreading Ceremony?” she asked with a spark of curiosity in her eyes. Kyrie was a bit surprised that someone wanted to talk to her, since she was known for being a “loner” in the school, but decided to respond anyway.

“Yeah. I just hope that I do well on the finals,” she answered after a bit of hesitation. Dani smiled and shook her head kindly.

“I don’t think you have to worry about finals. You’re one of the smartest students here. If not  the smartest student!” Dani exclaimed, causing Kyrie to cover her face with her book in embarrassment, but also bashfulness. She personally thought that she could always do better, but was glad that someone seemed to admire her hard work. “I’m mostly worried about the free fall,” Dani finished, taking a sip of her juice.

This made Kyrie pause for a moment. She had heard bits and pieces of something called a free fall, but never paid much attention to it. Now that she was hearing that it was something to be concerned about, she began to start worrying as well.

“What’s the free fall?” she nervously asked, hoping that it wasn’t something majorly important.

“Oh! I thought everyone knew about it. The free fall is basically a coming of age type test that we all have to take before we move on to Spirit-Soar Upper School. It’s like what birds do with their babies. We go on a bus to a waterfall somewhere up north-”

“Forever Falls?” Kyrie guessed. After giving a quick nod, Dani continued with her explanation.

“So we got to Forever Falls and we jump off from this high plank and we have to free fall for a bit before pushing ourselves back up to the top. You have to get at least 30 feet high before they let you go back down, and if you fall it’s completely fine. They’ve made sure that the water below is easy to float in and they’re also a ton of adult supervision, so it’s completely safe.”

“30 feet?” Kyrie asked warily, glancing at her wings and starting to dread the event that she had only just been informed of.

“Yep. I’ve been practicing a bit, so I think I’ll be able to make it at least halfway.” Dani continued talking for a bit before noticing Kyrie’s frown and asking, “What’s wrong?”

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to pass.’ Kyrie thought. ‘I haven’t been able to fly for long in a while, let alone against gravity. How am I supposed to fly 30 feet on my own!’ However, the only thing that she said out loud was, “Nothing. It’s fine. I was just a bit surprised.”

Dani didn’t respond for a while, looking towards her with a face of slight doubt, but she didn’t pry any further and the two girls finished eating in silence.

“You do know that if you do need it, I’d be willing to help, right?” Dani asked, throwing away her food. Kyrie only nodded her head and walked towards her next class with no intention of getting help from anyone.

Ever since her first conversation with Dani, Kyrie had started putting more effort into learning how to fly properly. She was determined to figure it out on her own and to be able to pass the free fall on her first try. Dani still sat next to her during lunch, and even though they didn’t talk to each other often, Kyrie was glad to have someone with her. Things seemed to be going well and Kyrie thought that she might actually stand a chance at passing.

Until she took one look at Forever Falls and all the color drained from her face. She had been extremely underprepared. It was then that she realized that she couldn't do this alone. All of her years of not being at a proper flying level were finally catching up with her, and she didn’t know how to handle it. To make matters worse, Shasha was not-so-quietly talking to one of her friends about her.

“Watch her just drop when it’s her turn to go,” she had said looking towards Kyrie all the while. “Everyone is born with wings, but I think some people don’t deserve them.” Each word made Kyrie feel like hiding in a hole.

She lined up with the rest of her classmates, of whom she didn’t know the names, and listened to the instructions from their director. They were to stay in a single file line and jump off the top of the cliff one by one. Then free fall until you were told to fly up by someone down below on with a megaphone. It seemed simple enough, but Kyrie was smart enough to know that going against gravity would prove to be a difficult task for her undertrained wings.

She watched as one by one, the students in her class jumped off the edge and hadn’t been seen again. She knew that they had all probably passed, considering that she hadn’t heard any big splashes yet. As more and more people went, her knees began to shake and she felt her wings unwillingly tense up. Student by student jumped and was able to pass. Some kids, like Shasha, decided to show off and go above and beyond the 30 feet required. Eventually, the inevitable occurred, and it was Kyrie’s turn to free fall.

Everything seemed to slow down for a bit. She remembered one of the adults nodding at her as her signal to go, taking off her sweater and revealing her violet wings for the first time since she was 6, and taking one last step before she tumbled into disorder. She felt the wind pushing against her harshly and tried to extend her wings to keep their movement in control, but she still hadn’t been able to de-stress herself enough to uncurl them from their usual closed-up position.

She had heard a megaphone and assumed that was her cue to start flying upwards, even though the rush of wind in her ears made it hard for her to tell for sure. She slowly opened her wings just enough to get a bit of control over her motion, but not enough to get her in the right direction. She focused all of her energy into her wings pushing her up and got into a steady flapping motion. She wasn’t as fast as the other students, but her main objective was to pass. Nothing more, nothing less.

For a while, it seemed like she would actually make it. By looking around, she had been able to estimate that she made it up about 15 feet, so she was halfway there, she smiled as the thought that she could do this ran through her mind. She was already halfway through. She just had to keep going, and she would get there eventually.

Slowly, however, her wings started to feel sore and she knew that she was reaching her limit. She tried to keep pushing herself. ‘Just a few more feet and then I’m done.’ But eventually, her wings gave out, and she felt herself falling yet again. However, this time she had no control over where she was going and felt her wings loosely drape behind her instead of in their regular closed position.

When she made contact with the water, she didn’t know what felt worse. The feeling of being the only kid to fall, physically dropping into the water from such a height, or the nagging feeling in her chest that told her that maybe she didn’t do as well as she thought. She swam herself out of the pool of water and made her way to the nearest tunnel dryer with her head down in shame.

The following week at school had to be one of her worst. On Monday, most people got a fancy certificate congratulating them on passing, but unfortunately, Kyrie was the only recipient of a short letter informing her that she had failed. Her top score was 18 feet. Usually, no one paid much attention to her and gossip was minimal. However, today she seemed to be the talk of the class. She avoided looking directly at anyone if she could help it, but still sometimes caught people staring at her. She couldn’t wait until lunch, where she could find somewhere in the school to be left alone for a bit.

She ate her lunch under the stairs refusing to be judged by other students or given sympathetic looks by her teachers. Shasha wouldn’t leave her alone today in the hallways, and she just needed a break. She felt a bit lonely today since Dani was surprisingly absent today. It was a bit out of the norm since she was the class president, but Kyrie didn’t think about it too much. After checking her watch, she started finishing up her food to get back to class when a shadow loomed over her. She looked up at its owner and was pleasantly surprised to see Dani smiling down at her.

“Ya’ know, I was looking for you.” she started, taking a seat next to Dani. Kyrie remained quiet waiting for her to continue. Dani sighed, looking off to the side before she started talking again.

“I noticed that you don’t seem to have many friends. And I don’t mean that as an insult!” she quickly added, not to hurt the other girl’s feelings. “I was thinking... What if I am your first official friend? I was told it’s important to have some relationships in school, so what if I help you? I’m not the best at flying myself, but I know some people who might be free to train you,” she suggested

Kyrie was shocked because not only had another person been willing to talk to her for a while, but they hadn’t reacted negatively towards her flying disadvantage and had actually volunteered to help her. With what, however, she was still confused. “Train me for what? I already failed the free fall,” she said glumly.

A spark seemed to light up in Dani’s eyes and she quickly turned towards Kyrie with a grin on her face. “As class president, it’s important for me to make sure that everyone in our class feels included and is doing well. I knew you were doing well academically, and I used to see you fly a lot when we were kids, so I figured that you were doing well in everything else too. But I’m getting off track here.” She shook her head to get back into focus.

“You can’t exactly be president without having some connections, so I talked to some kids who personally knew the person who directs the free fall each year, and guess what? I got you a second chance!” she exclaimed, beaming all the way. Kyrie stayed silent for a bit, taking in what Dani had just told her. As she connected the dots, a small smile dawned on her face and she brought Dani, her new friend, into a light hug, thanking her all the way.

“Hey, I’m glad to help. And this time? I’m going to make sure you ace that test!” Dani declared, with a look of determination. “We’ve got a month to practice, so let's give it all we’ve got, ok?” she asked, putting a hand on Kyrie’s shoulder. Kyrie gave a nod of affirmation, and the two walked off to class together.

For the next few weeks after school, Kyrie and Dani went over wing drills for 2 hours a day. They practiced basic flapping, gliding, and propelling. Whenever Kyrie felt like she couldn't go on anymore, Dani was always there to gently encourage her to keep going. Sometimes when they practiced, Dani would bring some of her other friends from school who were more experienced and participated in school sports. While training was mostly meant for helping her grow wing strength, Kyrie also grew some relationships with the other kids in her class.

It wasn’t easy, but after time, Kyrie began to both gain wing strength and courage. She could often be seen slowly, but surely flying to class and interacting with her classmates. She learned that making friends was something that she actually wanted, and was important to her. She also eventually learned how to open up to others about when she needed help.

During one of her practices, Shasha happened to be walking by Dani’s house after one of her games and called Kyrie out on her wing color while she was mid-air. Kyrie slowly started to drop out of reflex, but Dani grabbed her hand and told her to keep practicing while she went to talk to Shasha. Kyrie watched from above as Dani glided down and stood in front of Shasha looking very disappointed. She couldn't hear exactly what was said, but she saw Shasha fly away and assumed that everything went well. 

On the day of Kyrie’s free fall retake, Dani and Kyrie stood up together side by side at the top of the waterfall. Kyrie’s stomach almost dropped at the sight as she looked down, but a quick hand squeeze from Dani helped her calm down a bit. Before she got into position for the drop, she turned to give Kyrie a quick hug.

“You’re going to do great. I believe in you. You’ve been practicing for weeks and you’ve improved a lot. Don’t worry. Just remember while you’re falling to relax your wings and then use all your energy when it’s time to catch yourself. Good luck.” Dani said with a wave before Kyrie was instructed on where to go. She took one step, then another, then one final step before allowing herself to go limp in the wind.

She heard someone yell “Now!” and knew that the falling part of the free fall was over. She pushed as much energy into her wings as she could and flew up 5, 10, and 15 in the air. 15 more to go. Her wings started to feel sore, but she remembered all the times before where she thought she wouldn’t be able to keep going, but still did. She recalled Dani's encouragement and how much she helped her. She didn’t only want to pass this for herself, but also for the friend who put so much effort into helping her get this far. She closed her eyes and pushed her wings to their limit.

After feeling her wings start to cramp, she opened her eyes to look down and get an estimate of how high she had gotten. She had managed to fly not only the required 30 feet but if she was guessing correctly, she had made it a surprising 42 feet up! She spread her wings and slowly glided down to where Dani and her other friends had been cheering for her. Dani scooped her into a hug, which she returned.

At the end of the year, Kyrie got her certificate stating that she passed the free fall, and was able to graduate and with her new friends at the Wing Spreading Ceremony. She went on to her new school with the newfound courage and determination she gained and was able to improve on herself as a person. She had learned that having relationships with others was important, and became more open to other people. Eventually, she also learned that sometimes she can’t do everything alone, and asking for help is okay. As she grew, she learned to accept her wings and herself and didn’t let other’s comments affect her. And because of one person reaching out to her, Kyrie was able to spread her wings once again.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the name Dani is a DP reference. Come on, you've seen the rest of my works.


End file.
